This article is from the WebMD Medical News Archive

Oct. 11, 2004 -- Researchers may have learned why some autistic children have problems with language development.

Difficulties in areas of communication are the core of autism. Now a new brain imaging study shows that autistic boys who have language problems have structural differences compared with autistic children with normal language skills.

Autism is a developmental disorder affecting social interaction, and verbal and nonverbal communication skills. In addition autistic children usually respond differently to their surrounding. They typically do not follow the usual patterns of childhood development and the condition usually can be detected before age 3, but not all cases are diagnosed that early.

Typically, parents first notice that their child doesn't interact, babble, talk, or respond like other children, sometimes suspecting hearing problems before autism is diagnosed.

Gordon Harris, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, teamed with colleagues to try to learn why some autistic children have language problems, while others don't.

For consistency in brain development, they only studied young boys (aged 6-13) who were right-handed only. Right-handedness was chosen because it is controlled by the left side of the brain, which also has within it a region which controls language development.

Gender could also affect the way the brain organizes language, therefore only boys were chosen.

The researchers took MRI images of the brains of 42 boys.

Participants were divided into four groups: 16 autistic boys with language impairment, six autistic boys and normal language development, 9 boys who currently or previously had another language disorder, called specific language impairment, but did not have autism, and 11 healthy boys.

People with specific language impairment disorder have been found to have abnormal brain structural patterns in regions relating to language on MRI.

The boys with language problems (with or without autism) were found to have similar MRI patterns relating to regions in the brain's language area.

It was the reverse image of that seen in boys with normal language development.

The symmetry reversal centers around a region of the brain called Broca's area, which handles language. Damage to this area may make it difficult to understand or speak in complex sentences. The structural differences may explain why so many autistic boys have language difficulties.

More studies are needed to confirm the findings and to see if the results also apply to adults and girls with autism, say Harris and colleagues.

SOURCES: De Fossé, L. Annals of Neurology, online edition, Oct. 11, 2004. News release, John Wiley & Sons. WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise: "Autism."

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